Wimbledon 2011 and where I'll be moving in August

Yesterday I went to Wimbledon with Lois and Wayne and got to enjoy a great day of watching tennis among a couple of rain delays.  We left on the first tube available (5:36 am) and got to the queue for tickets at about 10 to 7 am.  We were just over number 2000 in the queue (they allow in about 7,000 ground passes to Wimbledon per day - last year I arrived at 8:10 and was number 7,500, but got let in around 1 pm)...this year we got in at about 10:30.  However, when we were let through they were still selling "restricted view" Court 1 tickets...I splurged and got one, so I spent much of my day watching the games on court 1, which was a real treat.  My view was actually pretty darn good, if I sat up straight there wasn't really any restriction at all.  I watched a bit of a Ladies singles match with Lois and Wayne, then watched my two matches and left court 1 after the last match was cancelled to watch some Ladies doubles.

The following pictures are from me at Centre Court (before they played they allowed people to take pictures) and mostly from court 1 where I was seated with one picture of Lois/Wayne's view from court 12 when I was with them.  I spent most of my time watching the matches instead of taking pictures...besides the Stewards would tell you to sit down if you stood during a match.

Left at 9:15 and got home at 10:25, long day, but well worth the trip and expense.  Lois queued for resale tickets and got into centre court, and Wayne enjoyed watching an assortment of matches outside of the show courts.  We all had a good day and enjoyed the experience.

An update on when/where I'll be moving later this summer.  The LMC Trustees have secured a "transition house" to rent for everyone currently living at the LMC.  It will be a 6 bedroom house (1 bedroom for each couple and me plus one "guest" room), with two kitchens, a reception room, and office room.  It'll be a tight fit, but should work.  Less than 2,000 square feet to give you an idea.  My room is basically half the size of the room I'm currently in.  It's farther north on the Northern line of the tube, about 1/4 mile from the Woodside Park tube station.  I'll have about a 3 mile commute to work, which I'll probably choose to bike, weather permitting.  The move is probably going to be on 15 August, while I'm cycling down from Scotland with my cousin, so I'll leave from the LMC and be moved into another place when I arrive.  Step one will be to set up my room upon arrival.  The following week I'll help move the Bridge Builders Office.

Lots of changes forthcoming, but it'll all work out in the end.

Plymouth, England & plans for June

So a while back I decided I wanted to go to Plymouth, England... mainly because I grew up in Plymouth, Vermont and wanted to go to the town which my hometown was named for...well at least if you go back far enough.  It's also the place where the original settlers came across the Atlantic from, so kinda neat in thinking about how long it's been a major port and such.

I also wanted to run a springtime half-marathon, so hence running the Plymouth half-marathon.  Unfortunately I wasn't able to train like I wanted, so my time left much to be desired, but it was still respectable in my opinion given how little I trained (virtually nothing compared to what a basic half-marathon training should have).  I was aiming for sub 1:45 and hit 1:41:31...not too bad, but someday I'd like to break 1:30...to give a comparison of where I was 8 months ago when I ran the marathon...well I hit the halfway point in that race in about 1:35....so yea, I got a bit out of shape.

The pictures below are from the shore in Plymouth and the historic "Hoe."  Basically the best shots I could muster given that the weather was quite poor for picture taking.  Lots of misty weather, very cloudy, and not good visibility.  I think I will go back next year though and hope for better picture taking conditions.

 The lighthouse on the Hoe

 "Welcome to Plymouth" - probably looks better when flowers are coming up...

Sir Frances Drake's Island...or something like that

Other recent news is that I decided to take a trip over the handlebars on my bike after my front wheel came off... I had thought the bike was handling funny and sure enough it was...I ended up with a bruised left shoulder (which was what took the brunt the hit to the pavement), sore left forearm, sore left wrist, cut ring finger on my ring hand (on both the top near the nail and back) and bump on my right knee...oh and a pretty nice skid mark on my helmet.  Overall, pretty lucky I didn't break anything.  Bike unfortunately needs to be repaired, busted the rear de-railer from the frame of the bike, it seems intact, but needs the part to reattach it.  I was pretty sore Saturday when it happened...about 15 miles into a planned 30 mile ride...but now I'm feeling much better.  Lots of ibuprofen..yum!

This week I'm helping with our 4 day course run primarily by Richard Blackburn of the Lombard Mennonite Peace Center out of Chicago, IL.  It's held here in London, but just a short distance from the London Mennonite Centre.  It is all about family systems theory (by Murray Bowen) and how it can be applied usefully to church settings.  Interesting stuff, right up my psych alley.

Later this month we've got another course, the "Mediating Interpersonal Conflicts" course, which is our full fledged formal mediation training course.  It will be run again in London, but over 5 days.  Only two weeks after the course this week is over we will be starting it, so there's a quicker turnaround.  As well as planning for a yet-to-be-determined office move and house move (to separate places).  Lots to do and lots to think about.

Between the two courses I think I will try to go to Wimbledon again this year.  It was a neat experience last year and I think I'd like to do it again.  8 hour queue, £20 tickets, 8-10 courts to see lots of pro players (top seeds only play on expensive courts), but still well worth it if you're a tennis fan like I am.  Loved seeing Rafael Nadal win against Federer this past Sunday :-)

   

The Lake District

The most recent course I've assisted was held at Rydal Hall Conference Centre, close to Ambleside, Cumbira in 'the lake district.'  The week-long course itself was tiring as usual, but not nearly as sometimes. I felt a much greater sense of 'peace' throughout the week.  Partly from the location and partly to the group we were training.  It was a little rainy during the week, but had enough moments of sunlight and an amazing rainbow where you were able to see the inverted double rainbow as well (which happen with all rainbows, but are usually too faint to see).

Below I've posted my favorite pictures from what I was able to take.  I didn't really have that much time to take any pictures so they are really just from an afternoon and evening.  I did get the chance to run a couple of times during the week (before we started working), which was a nice blessing.  The region where the course was held really reminded me a lot of Vermont.  It made me feel like I was seeing Vermont as it was at the turn of the 20th century.  The hills were of similar size, though probably higher in VT, with lakes here and there, twisty windy roads, small towns/villages.  Vermont, at the turn of the century was almost 90% clearcut and mostly sheep/dairy farms.  That was basically this area, 80-90% clearcut and sheep/dairy farms.  Like looking into the past a bit...

Anyways - my favorite shots.

This next weekend I am going to Plymouth down along the southwest coast to run a half-marathon.  Plymouth, England is the namesake of my hometown Plymouth, Vermont...so I figured I should visit it sometime and I wanted to run a half-marathon, so this is two birds w/one stone.  Just a short trip down Saturday by train and back Sunday after the run.

Springtime in London

The following are some pictures of the London Mennonite Centre garden in late mid-late April.  Springtime seemed to have hit a bit earlier this year than in years past.  It has also been quite a bit drier than usual, so there haven't been any of the normal April showers.  I expect at some point during the summer months it will be a considerable bit wetter, but for the time being I am enjoying the dryness.  

 The last three photos are from when I duct taped a camcorder to the front of my bike.  I now have a tape running about 55 minutes of me cycling from the London Mennonite Centre down around Oxford Circus, around Trafalgar Square, and back up.  About a 12-13 mile ride in all.  It's currently on a VHS tape, but someday I might try to get it on a computer so I could upload a short clip.  There's a couple of moves which you can't see properly so they seem worse than they actually were.

Overall it was a fun experience.  Not sure it is worth the effort to do many times as I've got a limited amount of tape to record on and I have to tape it back to the bike (and then take it back off again) to do anything with it.  It's a lot of extra weight to add on if it isn't be used.

In other cycling news I am planning on cycling from Glasgow Scotland to London sometime in August with a cousin on my Dad's side of the family.  It should be a lot of fun (and a lot of work).  I think we will plan on doing about 60 miles per day.  I'll need to start training for it soon so I will be able to enjoy the trip.  I'm looking forward to it.

This week I am up in the "lake district," while on a week-long training course.   So far the location reminds me a bit of Vermont given that it is very rural, roads are windy, it is hilly and green (though not as many trees on top) and there are a lot of skinny  lakes, hence the name.  If I get the chance to go out I will post some pictures.

"Senior" Church Leaders course at Whirlow Grange in Sheffield

So I've just gotten back from assisting on our "Senior" Church Leaders Foundation Course (Transforming Church Conflict for Senior Church Leaders).  What do I mean when I say "Senior," well generally that means they might be older, but not necessarily.  I mean leaders within each denomination that have quite a bit of oversight.  This means Bishops, Deans, Archdeacons in Anglican Church of England terms.  Rural Deans, Synod Moderators, District Chairs in other denominational terms.  This past week's course was primarily Anglican, with a couple Baptist, one from the Salvation Army, and one Presbyterian/Methodist.  Among the Anglicans we had four Bishops (although one had just been appointed), a Cathedral Dean, and numerous Archdeacons, along with a couple misc. Bishop's staff members.  A diverse Anglican group, but not as diverse a group as we sometimes have denominationally.

It was a real privilege to be a part of the Senior Leaders course.  The people who come on it are really top notch individuals and really eager to engage and learn.  It means we've really got to be on our "A-game"as a training team.  I've attached our group photo and some other shots from one of the participants took during the week.  He had a keen eye for taking good photos.

 Group Photo

Football match going on in a nearby pitch.  

We just couldn't get them away from their iPhones 

Three wise monkeys 

 Whirlow Grange Conference Centre

Having a discussion during a break-time

As far as London Mennonite Centre life / decisions, the Trustees had another important meeting this past week (15 March) and decided to pursue one of the two options which they were considering.  They have another meeting in mid-May to decide whether to continue with it fullstop or look for alternative avenues.  The gist of it means I will likely be moving to a temporary LMC staff location for the duration of my term in mid-late July.  It also means that Bridge Builders will need to find alternative office space before August/September.  So come the end of the summer I will be commuting to work and living somewhere else in London.  They (the Trustees) are still in the early stages of this, so not a whole lot is known or a given.  The plan is the have everyone who is living at the Centre in a temporary lmc staff house for a 6 to a more likely 12 month period somewhere in the North London region (perhaps close to the Northern line).  A lot will depend on the May Trustees meeting.  If plans change they all that I've said could be thrown out the window.  At the moment I'm glad that plans are for those who live at the Centre to remain in community and trying to not focus too much on the fact that Bridge Builders really needs to find get on the ball about finding new office space.  Overall, I'm figuring I won't know where I'm really moving (or working) until about June/July.  

In other news, I might have a cousin (he/she who shall not be named at the moment) coming over to the UK/Ireland to do start a cycling journey across Europe.  My cousin will probably come over sometime in the beginning of August, head from Dublin to Belfast, then to Glasgow and toward London.  I might join said cousin for a portion of it (bit from perhaps Glasgow to London).  Other details are yet to be discovered/made.  I'm excited!